MEMS are made up of components typically no larger than 100 micrometers in size and usually integrate a microprocessor and other components, such as the microsensor found in the iPhone's accelerometer.

His talk, New and Emerging Technologies in Electronics, will detail what's next in advanced electronics, offering a snapshot of emerging technologies impacting the industry, emerging material technologies, plus an overview of advances in automotive, biomedical electronics, and smart electronics based on MEMS and microsensor technology.

Tsukruk and graduate students Michael McConney and Kyle Anderson conducted preliminary experiments with a simple artificial hair cell microsensor made of SU-8, a common epoxy-based polymer capable of solidifying, and built with conventional CMOS microfabrication technology.

Starting with a microsensor silicon chip array provided by collaborators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Beach adds a layer of particles using a device called a picoliter drop dispenser.